Taking advantage of the extended Memorial Day weekend, I tacked on an extra day and winged it away from the West Coast for a weekend in New York City. What a place; I had visited in my early twenties, but it makes a major difference when you have local friends to visit and, crucially, a credit card.
First impression: the people are far more friendly and polite than I realised. Ticket collectors forgave my mistakes on the trains, strangers waved me towards the correct subway stop, people held doors open for me and random acts of kindness and humour caught me off-guard. The combination of awe-inspiring vertical scale, surprisingly large horizontal distances needed to traverse the place and warped sense of horizon and perspective, combined with these little bits of humane magic, make for an addictive combination.
I managed to spend a solid chunk of time with some great people. Yes, people, I have New York friends; Mia and Brian of San Francisco fame, and then Matt Landman, who I know through Ken in Taiwan, and had only ever met once in an evening of insane metal and rock.
Highlights: getting caught on the ferry in the rain and walking up Manhattan using the freeways as shelter, an evening on top of ’30 Rock’ – The Rockefeller Center, and wandering through Brooklyn, fire hydrants opened up to drench the local kids with cooling water. Did I mention how hot the weather was?
Since New York is about half way back to London (insane, no?), I can imagine I will be back here soon.
View from Brian's apartment to the streets belowBrian displaying his perma-Sartorialist.com abilitiesThe sense of perspective in this space is wonderfully warpedStandard issue taxi cab shotNew York feels simultaneously more American, and European at the same time, compared to San FranciscoV22 Osprey Tiltrotor Crazycopters were circling Manhattan for the whole time – I thought they had been decommissioned for safety reasonsModesty (Instagram)Sheltering from the rain (Instagram)Brunch at Freemans … and as it turns out the same chain as where I get my hair cut in SFThe skyline – never anything less than amazingWilliamsburg – hipster central. I swear I did not pose this shot. Ridiculous.5th AvenueI was obsessed with what people were wearing; so much more stylish than San Francisco or TaipeiPublic artwork more common than in California41 Cooper Square – by Thom MayneShadows of Train TracksCatching up with Mr. Matt LandmanMia rocks the grafDelighted to see fire hydrants opened up everywhere in Brooklyn for impromptu street parties – I thought this only happened in the movies. I was expecting the Sesame Street cast to walk past at any moment.
It’s been great to have Abe back in town for a couple of weeks. A great opportunity to hang out, get introduced to some awesome people, and get some kitchen time with Abe … great to have the place up and running for his arrival.
Abe on cauliflower dutyCheers! And cheer up!Crab cakes from the local butchers … I am slowly falling in love with that place.Prepping.Crab cakes, seared brussel sprouts, cauliflower leche … plus broccoli and spinach soup, and a wicked cheesecake that are not on view.Yay! – a marvellous holiday period with the clan Sitzer.
It’s been a while since I met Robbie, my flatmate and one of my best friends while at university in Glasgow. We actually managed to link up in Kyoto, while he was at a neuroscience conference (it’s not exactly brain surgery), but this was the first time I have managed to visit his grown-up home (not counting the family home in Göttingen).
Driving up from Konstanz to the northern tip of Bavaria, Wurzburg finds itself in the wine-growing region of the country. I can confirm this to be a fact, as each time we crossed the bridge from one side of the town to the other, we had a glass of wine. It was like some kind of adolescent fairy-tale.
Coinciding with Halloween, we went to one of Robbie’s PHD student’s party, and won second prize for dressing up as a pair of spectacles; photos on the way!
Wine routineCrossing the bridge was always enjoyable!… others agree.Sky, reflectedA very pretty Roman university town; much like Cambridge I suppose.The tower in the castle, where they would throw prisoners in the top, they would fall to the bottom, and if they were lucky they had the opportunity to moan and scream, warning others to avoid their misdemeanours..It's amazing how much mess a single tree can make.Robbie preparing his costume.
Invariably, Asian electricity companies have the best logos in the world.
Hong Kong holds deep and special memories for me. It was the first place I landed in Asia, touching-down on the way to Taiwan for the first time, it was the first ‘foreign’ place I went to after arriving on the island, it was a weekend transit hub for many of my trips to China, and it ended up being a place that some of my best friends called home. It will forever be a just a little bit magical.
The plan was to stretch out our layover to London with a day running around (traditional, I might say!). We ended up meeting Sam at Bloomberg, accidentally got on TV (twice!), relaxed with afternoon beers on Lamma, and ended up with food at the hilarious American Restaurant. Poignant goodbyes, but I shall be back soon!
It shouldn't, but in a lot of ways Hong Kong reminds me of San Francisco; the steep hills, definitive skyline, and entertaining mix of transport modes and walkability.Messing about on the boatSunset in LammaHeading back to the city to meet Michael for dinnerSam looking moody on the tram.They keep on saying they are going to replace the old wooden trams; I say I believe it when I see it. They are fun though (when it's not rush hour at least).One day I need to get my name up there.Zai Jian!Looking back.Poking my camera out of the taxi one last time. What a city!
Perfectly sandwiching my arrival at Dell three and a half years prior, Yuyin and I decided to swap one Pacific island for another.
Ostensibly to celebrate the wedding of Nelson and Christina, it was also a great opportunity to catch up with old friend Rich and plot some serious R&R time. Opting to stay in the heart of teeming Seminyak, it landed us within striking distance of some fantastic beaches, beautiful tourist spots and great food.
Anyway, here are some of my highlights:
Splish splash – no complaints about the pool in our villaKen calls from Taiwan and I make sure proceedings are interrupted for a quick call.Standard issue Aviator shotA blow-out on the ride up to Bedegul meant an emergency tyre swap – and this was after running out of fuel earlier on in the journey!Easy rider (s)Sadly, this was the view for much of the trip around the local area – traffic and overcrowding.
Potato Head
This trip to Bali was a professional inspiration for two reasons; one, an eye-opening trip to the extravagant new bar ‘Potato Head Beach Club’, and second a trip to the motorcycle custom shop, Deus Ex Machina (more of that later).
Utilising authentically used shutters from around the island, they have constructed an egg-shaped cocoon structure, wrapping up a little slice of Malibu from the other side of the Pacific ocean. Locating ourselves at the back, huge waves were framed by the building on the sides, and an infinity pool at the base. The sense of occasion upon arrival was matched well with the prices of the drinks – we opted for a ‘cocktail to share’ and could barely scrape ourselves off the sofa by the time we reached the bottom of the glass.
Blue skiesWindowsThe entrance gangway up the side of the buildingTremedous view of the ocean, punctuated by palm trees and beautiful peopleThe start of our destructionA very handsome-looking communal dining areaThe infinity pool (keeping the great unwashed at bay, beyond)Shutters lining the roof inside
A very nicely executed aesthetic (which looked fabulous at night, by the way) but amazingly only sporting a single set of toilets for the entire bar, and apparently everyone gets wet when it rains; not so cool.
Sign of the times, their website is ‘on progress’ while their Facebook page is clearly thriving.
Padang Padang Beach
Away from the main tourist drag in Kuta and Seminyak, there are some fabulous beaches. Jimbaran to the south is littered with the things and we pretty much had to flip a coin to pick one. Padang Padang won out, and after a little while looking for it, it revealed itself as a charming little cove with light surf, tucked away at the base of a cliff and beyond a dramatic walk down via a seam in the rock.
The entrance route could not have been better designedPrepping our equipmentMy view for much of the dayI have been using a Sony Reader of late and enjoyed being able to take a stack of books with me to the beach.I would not want to do this with an iPadYuyin clearly enjoying herself!Panoramic view – click for more details… and one from the other angleTools of the tradeSurfs up at the end of the day
Menega Cafe
Some of my most memorable food on my last trip here with Rich, was at Menega Cafe, down in Jimbaran. Clams and shrimp doused in a deliciously tangy sauce were washed down perfectly with a couple of Bintangs, another gorgeous sunset, and gawping at the tourists taking embarrassing photographs of each other.
A long-suffering husband followed his wife up and down the beach, looking for the perfect shotIt was all we could do to contain our laughterYuyin expressing her love for SpongebobWicked, wicked foodOne interesting thing was plotting the rise of Chinese tourists to Bali. Simplified Chinese had knocked out traditional script, and hopeful streetfood sellers were daubing their flag over their carts in hope of attracting their business.The tasty carcinogen zone
Tanah Lot Temple
Since both Yuyin and I had been to Bali before and ticked off many of the main tourist tick boxes, we were able to focus on some lesser-known attractions. One that had escaped my net last time was Tanah Lot – an extraordinary outcrop of rock populated with decorations and religious ornament. While fully detached at high-tide, at low tide one is able to wander around it with hundreds of other like-minded individuals. As is often the case though, step a few metres away from the obvious main path, and you are rewarded with near solitude.
The temple from aboveYuyin taking photos of me taking photosCaught in the actInteresting rock formationsReturning back to civilisationHappy!One of the nearby outcrops, with a refreshing lack of safety equipment between visitors and the rocks belowBali roof details
Deus Ex Machina
There was no struggle. They caught me hook, line and sinker. Custom motorbikes. Custom surf and skateboards. Custom bicycles. Great food. Cute girls. Fantastic architecture. Impeccable story. I stood no hope, and bought what Deus Ex Machina really wanted my there for; their booming t-shirt and clothing business. But my oh my, such fantastic concept and execution. Please let me work here. I want to be you.
Started in Australia, expanding to the USA, it makes perfect sense to have a location metres away from the pro-surf hot spot of Indonesia. I stood no chance.The starting point; some utterly stock Yamaha sports bikes.What you end up with – a slice of attitude. Sign me up.While also working over British classics and American slabs of iron, I appreciated the fact that they had no qualms working with more modest local starting points.What you can expect if you drop a little more cash; Dues Ex Machina – 'The Mono'Touring the facilities.Panel bashing – I wonder if the company owners have more ergonomic chairs.Ideas for my future tool shed
And on to their surf boards and other toys…
BirthImpeccable graphics and choice of colours and materialsAlmost ready for its first test driveYes, they have their own fully kitted-out photography studioThe real reason we were all here todayThe collection of buildings near Canggu beach
Canggu Beach
Canggu beach makes for a more rugged experience than most of the other locations. Bigger surf, more aggressive waves in-shore and less cover meant it was limited to us, some pro-surfers, and some local horse riders. No trinket peddlers and a more raw atmosphere was a refreshing change from the manicured spots on the rest of the island.
Surf's upSunset on horseback
So that’s it … came, saw … and bought the t-shirt (willingly I might add).
Our friend Dave, who is an engineer at Microsoft in Seattle, paid us a visit last week. Reports had been circulating that he had assembled his own Sous Vide; a device that enables highly-accurate temperature control for cooking, in the manner of Heston Blumenthal.
By first vacuuming the food into sealed bags, then immersing it a water bath, it is possible to cook meats and other food stuffs in a way that prevents over-cooking, and because you can cook over more sustained periods of time, it can extract better results from cheaper cuts of meat.
Buying ready-made, commercial Sous-Vides is still very expensive, so Dave lead the way in bringing a temperature controller and the major components over from the USA. All that was left was to fashion an enclosure, and assemble it all together. After heading to the tool district, we found a cornucopia of electronics component shops, and had immense fun selecting the most clicky, over-the-top switches and widgets for the control box.
Results? Melt-in-mouth good, but without disintegrating. I wonder, in fact, if some of the more famous steak houses cook their steaks in this way; we had a relatively good value cut, but it would be interesting to see the results with even better meat.
Next project are eggs; apparently it’s possible to cook poached eggs in the shell that, once opened, are more like custard.
The control box.Bringing the water up to temperature.Dropping the vacuum-packed meat into the water.Bubbling away …PlonkCutting open the packs of meat, and suddenly filling the kitchen with rather a nice smell!You still need to finish it off in a pan to attain the colour, and to add a touch of caramelised burnt flavour to the meat. The Lodge cast-iron pan that I idiotically hand-carried back from the USA (6kg!) does the job perfectly; better than non-stick.Served with pureed cauliflower and jus of bell pepper. Yum!
Sunday was, naturally, Superbowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers played against the Greenbay Packers, in a northern-states head-to-head. This was my first Superbowl, so I was pretty excited to join in with the junk food, half-time adverts and shouting at an inert black box. I had effectively no idea what was happening the entire time, asked countless silly questions, and was probably more intrigued by some of the strange advertising; which was, I must say, a let-down.
Still, it was lots of fun to be there with committed Packers fans, and a bunch of work friends. You can’t but help be swept up in the sheer enthusiasm and pomp of the thing.
Team Latitude enjoy an afternoon of sport (on the sofa)
Insanely excited kids, air pumping and whooping at about age four.
The detail I will remember will surely be racing around town attempting to arrange a last minute emergency Visa for China, but realising there was less than 6 months on my passport … hence an emergency application to the Hong Kong Embassy – a result of the diplomatic status of Taiwan in the international community. Hopefully, I’ll be on the plane next week!
A fantastic birthday dinner with a really great array of friends
Bumped into a friend in PS today and he had just come back from Japan. I’m not a smoker, but I could be persuaded with a packet as cool as this.
The pack slides open sideways, and the main information is ‘H’ for heavy, along with the associated red colour. Apparently, the other packs feature different letters and colours for lights, menthols and so on.
Alphabet Cigarettes – ‘H’
In my frequent visits to PS: Cafe I am always taken by the fascination with all their glowing screens. Cell phones, notebook computers, portable games machines, PDAs, disctionaries, iPods … anything that sparkles, glows and allows them attachment to other people – even to the detriment of the people sitting next to them. Interestingly, I saw a pair of guys watching a TV show together off an iPod ‘with’ Video. Rather interesting.
